Pai Gow Poker is a popular live table game played by one or more players against a dealer using a standard deck of 52 playing cards or a modified deck which includes a Joker. When a Joker is used it can represent an ace or can be wild to complete a straight or flush.
To play the game of Pai Gow Poker, each player makes a wager. The dealer then deals seven cards to each player and seven cards representing a dealer's hand. Each player arranges their seven cards into a five card high hand and a two card low hand. The five card high hand must outrank, according to the standard rankings of poker, the two card low hand. Once the players have arranged and exposed their high and low hands, the dealer exposes their cards and likewise arranges them into a five card high hand and a two card low hand according to the same rules of the player. Thereafter the hands are resolved to determine wins, losses and pushes.
For a player to win their wager, both of the players' high and low hands must outrank, according to the standard rules of ranking hands of poker, the corresponding high and low hands of the dealer. If the players' hands do outrank the dealer's, the player wins their wager and they are paid even money by the dealer. If the dealer's high and low hands outrank the players' corresponding high and low hands, that outcome is a loss for the player and their wager is collected. If the player's high hand outranks the dealer's high hand but the dealer's high hand outranks the player's low hand, that is considered a push and the player's wager is neither won or lost. Similarly, if the dealer's high hand outranks the player's high hand but the player's low hand outranks the dealer's low hand, that also is considered a push. In resolving the hands, where any player's hand ties a dealer's hand, the dealer's hand is presumed to outrank the player's. Thus, for example, if the player's high hand outranks the dealer's high hand but the low hands are ties, that is considered a push since the dealer's low hand is presumed to outrank the player's low hand.
After the hands are resolved and wagers paid or collected, new wagers are made and a new hand is dealt. Winning wagers are paid at even money.
A drawback of standard Pai Gow Poker of the type described above is that if a player wins their hand, they are only paid even money. Thus, in order to win more, a player must wager more. Larger payoffs or jackpots are not offered. A further drawback is that a large number of hands result in pushes. This results in a relatively slow game since many outcomes are not favorable or unfavorable to either the player or the dealer. Still a further drawback is that the game is relatively even with respect to odds of the dealer or the player winning the hand. Hence casinos providing Pai Gow Poker assess a commission on winning hands. There is, therefore, a need for a modified poker game which provides a number of opportunities for increased payoffs and which generally overcomes the problems and drawbacks with Pai Gow Poker noted above.
These drawbacks including the assessment of a commission and the even money payoffs for winning hands has prevented Pai Gow Poker from being considered for being incorporated into an electronic gaming device. There is, therefore, a need for an improved Pai Gow Poker game which overcomes these drawbacks and which facilitates the incorporation of Pai Gow Poker into an electronic gaming device.